


And the Snakes Start to Sing

by clv44



Series: Tales from the Wildemount Frontier [5]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Middle School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Priests, Alternate Universe - Western, Campaign 1 (Critical Role), Gen, Minor Scanlan Shorthalt/Pike Trickfoot, Mystery, POV Multiple, Spirits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22355587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clv44/pseuds/clv44
Summary: Sister Pike has enough to deal with having Scanlan Shorthalt in her sixth-grade class. She didn't need the added pressure of looking after a hunted child.
Relationships: Grog Strongjaw & Pike Trickfoot, Keyleth & Pike Trickfoot & Scanlan Shorthalt, Scanlan Shorthalt & Pike Trickfoot
Series: Tales from the Wildemount Frontier [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612876
Kudos: 6





	And the Snakes Start to Sing

Sister Pike heard another giggle as she scratched the day's lesson on the chalkboard. She turned to face her class and saw every student look down at their desks, restraining laughter behind puffed cheeks.

"Would anybody like to tell me what's so funny?" she asked. Some teachers had voices like a whip, that could catch an entire class' attention with a sharp reprimand. Others had deep voices that could command attention because their voice sounded like a giant's. Sister Pike had no such vocal gifts. Her voice was soft and high-pitched. She hardly ever yelled and when she did, it was never unkindly. Her voice was strong, though, and carried through the room like music.

A small hand rose slowly into the air. Everybody's eyes flicked towards the snitch and several unsubtle death glares were shot across the room.

"Yes, Liam?" The young man pointed a finger at his neighbor, who was currently hiding behind his algebra textbook.

"Mr. Shorthalt?" The boy dropped his book down on his desk, revealing two pencils shoved up his nostrils. Pike pinched the bridge of her nose as the class erupted into barely restrained giggles.

"Please take the pencils out of your nose, Scanlan," Pike sighed, unable to keep the exasperation from her voice. "They're for paper, not for nose-picking. God gave us perfectly good fingers for that."

Scanlan grinned. "Yes, ma'am." He slid the pencils out with a wet plop. Pike took a deep breath fingering her crucifix.

"Thank you, Scanlan." She turned back to the board and the silence was violently punctured by a loud guffaw that made Pike jump. She whipped around to see Scanlan glaring daggers at a boy in the front row.

"Travis?" Pike walked up to the boy's desk and stared down at him as he looked down at the floor, face beat red. "Travis, do you want to wear the dunce cap?" The boy looked over mournfully at the pointed cone hat, sitting on a bench next to Pike's desk. He swallowed.

"There's a note on your back, Sister Trickfoot," he admitted. Piked reached behind her and pulled a small piece of paper off her robes. It was written in French and said, "You+Me=A Good Time."

Pike looked up at Scanlan, whose face was just as red as Travis'. He wasn't looking at her, instead staring into his folded hands. Pike folded the paper and dropped it into the wastebasket.

"Mr. Shorthalt," Pike said and Scanlan's face got even more crimson. "Normally, such a display of immaturity would be cause for a beating. However," she saw Scanlan's ears perk up, "because of your excellent French and because you tied the joke into your math lesson," she smirked despite herself, "you will be merely sent to the principal's office. Please tell Principal Saren to send you back once she's done."

"Yes, ma'am." Scanlan was smiling at her as he left the room, a strange little jump in his step. She could hear him whistling sweetly down the hallway.

The rest of the class passed without incident. Pike managed to get through both the algebra and French lessons without much more headache. She didn't even notice that Scanlan hadn't returned from Principal Saren's office until the bell rang for lunch and recess. Scanlan was normally the first one leading the charge out the door, leading his group of admiring fans out to release their pent-up energy. However, as the students filed out, Pike distinctly noticed the absence of the piercing laughter, the farting noises as soon as they entered the hall and the whoops and hollers as soon as they were out the door. She went to her usual observing spot on the playground, a bench just beside the swampland that bordered the school. She assumed that Scanlan had just went ahead to the playground anyway; cutting class wouldn't have been close to the worst thing he'd done. In fact, when she thought about it, Pike was surprised that hadn't been one of the first things he did when he became her student.

Pike cracked open a book, some pulp adventure story with action and romance, and let the sounds of laughing children lull her into a feeling of peace. She indulged in the story of Oskjar, the dashing pirate captain, and Genevieve, his captive-turned lover. It wasn't that she didn't like her position; she loved the children under her care, even if they were troublemakers. But, it was the old cliché: she sometimes longed for a little adventure, a jump in the heart rate as adrenaline buzzed through her. She sighed as she imagined herself as Genevieve, beautiful, strong, heroic and living a life she never would.

* * *

Scanlan practically skipped out of Principal Seren Rae's office. All while the principal lectured him about respecting his teachers and distracting other students from their studies, he felt giddy. Sister Pike had smiled at him; he hadn't been able to do that with a thousand fart jokes, but this one moment of cleverness, going the extra mile to put the message in French, had impressed her. And she had smiled at him. And Scanlan had felt like he could fly.

He stopped just outside the door to Sister Pike's classroom. He straightened his uniform, making sure his hair was slicked back, and was just about to go back in when he had a thought. The lunch/recess hour would be coming up soon. Maybe there was some way he could surprise her. She wanted to see her smile at him again, but what could he do? She didn't like being scared; he'd learned that the hard way. She didn't really like a lot of his jokes, no matter what he did. He needed to go the extra mile. That meant a display. To Scanlan, that meant flowers. It was what his Pa always brought Mama after a long trip away for trading and it always Mama smile. But where was he supposed to get flowers? they didn't have many of them around here and the ones they did weren't all that pretty, with muted colors and strange smells. He snapped his fingers; he had it!

He ran out into the schoolyard and made straight for the swamp that bordered school property. He had once seen a patch of beautiful yellow flowers growing there amongst the brown and green vegetation. Those would be perfect.

Scanlan carefully navigated his way along the precarious paths of fallen logs and tree stumps. The water was sickly green with algae and something underneath blew bubbles onto the surface. The nuns had always told Scanlan and the others that there were crocs and poisonous snakes hiding in the swamp, and while Scanlan was under the impression they only said this to keep them out, he still stayed out of the water. He tiptoed across logs, swung on low-hanging branches and landed on stumps, relying on his memory to lead him back to those flowers.

Finally, he saw them through the trees; he could hardly miss them, they were so bright and so beautifully different from anything else in the swamp. They'd be perfect for Sister Pike. There was just one problem: they were sitting in the middle of a patch of green water, with nowhere to step without squashing any of them. Scanlan tapped his temple, thinking of some way to get those flowers without getting his uniform wet, when he heard a rustling noise behind him. He whipped around, his brain sending him images of poisonous snakes and crocodiles. He saw nothing, but a twig snapped somewhere close-by.

"Who's there?" Scanlan tried to put as much force into his voice as he could, but it came out a bit shakier than he'd hoped. "Travis? Liam? If that's one of you guys, this isn't funny! C'mon out!"

"Hi!" A flop of dirty red hair dropped into Scanlan's face and he jumped backwards straight into the water. He came up on his hands and knees spluttering, spitting algae out of his mouth and looking at the little girl who was now staring at him. She was upside down, legs curled around a low-hanging branch, and her long red hair touched the log that Scanlan had been standing on only moments before. Her face was covered in dirt and mud and her bright green eyes jumped out at him like shining emeralds. She was wearing what seemed to be a very old pillowcase that was on its way to being tatters. She giggled.

"Sorry I scared you like that, but you said come out, so here I am! What's your name? I've seen you in here a few times, but you've never said hi before."

Scanlan just stared at her, mouth open.

"Were you trying to get those flowers?" she asked sweetly. She dropped from the tree and flipped, landing gracefully on her feet. "The water's not that deep, y'know? You could've just walked over."

"I didn't want to get dirty," Scanlan replied, dazed. The girl giggled.

"Well, bit late now, huh? I'm Keyleth, by the way!"

Scanlan nodded, not sure what he was agreeing to. "Shorthalt... uh, Scanlan."

Keyleth's eyes widened. "You have two names? That's so cool! How did you do that?"

Scanlan just stared at her, locked in a daze of confusion. Who was this girl? He'd never seen her before. Has she been living in the swamp this whole time?

"Here you go!" A bunch of yellow flowers were shoved into his face and he flinched, backing away from Keyleth. She frowned at him, puzzled.

"Don't you want them anymore?" she asked, holding out the flowers to him. Scanlan just shook his head and Keyleth frowned. "Well, okay then." She threw the flowers over her shoulder and they scattered into the water. "We should get out of the water soon; the snake will be here soon and we don't want him to see us."

Scanlan blinked. "What?"

"Oh, there's this big snake that comes by at the same time every day. And if you're in the water, he eats you. At least, I think he does. I saw him suck a deer into the water once." She lowered her voice. "It didn't come back up."

Scanlan scrambled up on top of the log, panting heavily, and Keyleth sat next to him.

"Don't be afraid," she said, putting an arm around his shoulder that he didn't appreciate. "As long as you're not in the water, the snake can't getcha."

"Who _are_ you?" Scanlan finally asked, trying to subtly move himself away from her.

"I told you: I'm Keyleth," she replied.

"Yeah, but... where did you come from?"

Keyleth frowned. "Up in that tree. You saw me come down, right?"

Scanlan shook his head; this had gone from scary to ridiculous very quickly.

"No! Where were you before, y'know, you were in the swamp?"

Keyleth opened her mouth to respond, but didn't. She rested her chin in her hand, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I dunno," she finally said. "I never thought about it before. I think I've just always been here."

"Well, where are your ma and pa? Don't tell me a bear gave birth to you or something." Keyleth laughed.

"Silly! There aren't any bears in here."

 _She's delusional!_ Scanlan thought. He stood up quickly, intent on telling Sister Pike about this girl.

"Scanlan!" he heard a voice call out. From between the trees stepped Travis, his legs ankle deep in water. "C'mon, Scanlan! Sister Pike is gonna be pissed off."

"Get out of the water!" When Keyleth shrieked Scanlan nearly fell back into the water. "The snake will get you!"

"Scanlan, who is that?" As Travis spoke, Scanlan felt a chill run through the usually hot, muggy air. His arms sprouted goosebumps and the trees creaked and groaned from a strong gust of wind.

"Scanlan..." Travis wrapped his arms around himself and his teeth began to chatter. "C'mon, man, let's go. Sister Pike is already gonna have your head for the uniform. Let's not make-"

Travis looked down, his face gone pale. He looked up at Scanlan and suddenly, with a sickening slurp noise, he was pulled under the green water. It was so fast he didn't even get the chance to scream.

"Travis!" Scanlan ran across the log and over to where his friend had been, Keyleth trailing behind him screaming.

"Don't!" she cried. "You'll be snatched too! C'mon!"

Scanlan didn't listen, jumping into the water and rushing over to where Travis had been only moments ago. He kneeled down, digging at the dark brown mud, as if he could dig him back up.

"Shorthalt, get out!" Keyleth had her hands over her mouth and was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"He's my friend!" he shouted back, his mind in an insane state of panic. He had to get him out, had to save him.

That's when he felt something slick and powerful wrap around his wrist. He looked down and found a reptilian tail covered in glittering green scales gripping him like handcuffs. He looked up at Keyleth, whose eyes were now shining with tears, and barely had time to scream before--

WHOOSH! The sound of rushing water filled his ears as he was pulled down by the vice grip of the reptilian tail. He tried to wrench it off, digging his fingers under where the tail met his skin. But the tail only gripped tighter and pulled him faster. His ears popped and his lungs cried out for fresh air, demanded that he open his mouth and breath. He ignored that demand for as long as he could, but eventually, instinctively, he opened his mouth and took a deep, gulping breath.

He didn't choke. And he no longer felt the grip of the reptilian tail on his wrist. Behind the lids of his closed eyes he saw the warm glow of yellow. Perhaps it's the sun, he thought. I've dreamt this whole thing and I'm going to open my eyes, the sun will be shining and Sister Pike will be looking over me to wake me up. He cracked open his eyes and where he expected to see the sun, shining radiantly on him, he saw an enormous eye. It was at least ten times as big as he was and the pupil was a was an ugly reptilian slit. Scanlan swallowed, too scared to speak, wishing he knew how to swim so he could do something instead of just floating before this thing.

"Watching," said a voice, deep and old and deadly. Scanlan didn't dare speak.

"Looking," said the voice again. "Found. Useful." The end of the reptilian tail floated up towards Scanlan and he furiously kicked, trying to get away. The tail took him by the ankle and slowly wormed its way up his body. There seemed to be no end to it, as it wrapped around his legs, then his waist, then his arms, then his neck, until he was completely restrained. The tail end floated above him before touching him in the center of his forehead. Scanlan felt pain split his head and images of Keyleth flashed before his eyes as he screamed.

The pain stopped as the tail moved away. The water around him rumbled.

"Found!" the voice cried, triumphant. "Found! Kill!" The tail squeezed and Scanlan cried out again as his skin split under the pressure and his bones cried out, in danger of breaking. For the first time in his life, Scanlan seriously prayed. He prayed that he wouldn't die here and that if he did die that this was all a dream. He prayed that he would get to see Sister Pike again. Then his nostrils started filling up with water and he knew that he would never be so lucky. He was going to die here. His vision became smaller, the massive eye still staring at him, unblinking. Slowly, but surely, Scanlan's world went black.

* * *

Sister Pike was at a particularly exciting point in her novel when she felt a cold breeze cut through the heat of the bright summer day. It whipped right through her thick black robes and she shivered, looking to where the wind had come from, as if she could find its source. She saw only the swamp, but that didn't take away the chill that had seeped into her bones. She remembered her grandfather had told her stories about this very swamp. It was a local legend that an ancient evil lived in those waters, trapped underneath and only having enough power to snatch beasts and men alike into its jaws. The residents of Nogvurot still had faith in old stories and even after they'd built a school next to it, they refused to let their children play there.

Pike kept looking, a cold fear taking hold of her heart, when suddenly a very dirty little girl in tattered clothing burst out of the tree line.

"Help!" she cried. "Help! Shorthalt is in trouble!"

Pike dropped her book and ran to the girl, whose cheeks were lined with paths of tears that cut through the mud. "Where is Scanlan?" she asked. The little girl pointed into the swamp.

"The snake got him! He went into the water and the snake got him." Pike suddenly felt even colder than before.

"Liam," she barked and the boy came running over. "Take the other students back inside. I will be back after I found Scanlan."

Liam nodded and started yelling for the rest of his classmates to follow him. Pike turned to the girl.

"Now, honey, tell me where Scanlan is."

The girl dragged her through the swamp, with Pike's clothes getting caught on twigs and the hem of her skirt soaked in algae water. She didn't much care about the mess; she only cared that they were stopping her from getting to Scanlan.

"There!" the girl pointed at a spot of water. Pike looked, but couldn't see any sign of her student.

"Where is he?" she asked, trying not to sound hysterical. The girl pointed again at the water. Pike thought about the legend, what it had said about the monster. That it lived deep beneath the shallow waters, pulling its prey down to its depths.

Pike's heart nearly stopped as she bent down and thrust her hand into the mud. It went deeper than she expected and soon she was shoulder-deep, waving her arm around under the mud, looking for anything that felt like a small young man. Her fingers brushed what felt like hair and she grabbed at it. She pulled, but something _pulled back_. Pike started, but she didn't let go. Whatever this thing was that had taken Scanlan, it wasn't keeping him. She pulled again and this time it came with her. She pulled up, slowly, until finally her hand pulled up a tuft of hair attached to the head of Scanlan Shorthalt. His eyes were shut and no bubbles escaped his mouth and nose.

"Help me!" she called to the girl, who had been watching from atop a fallen tree. She jumped down into the water and grabbed at Scanlan's dark locks, pulling with Pike until his whole upper body was out of the ground. They dragged him by the arms and laid him over to a log. Pike checked his neck for a pulse. It was incredibly weak and fading. Pike felt a panic go through her. She wouldn't let this fun-loving, lively boy die on her.

She pressed into his chest ten times and blew into his mouth.

"Why are you kissing him?" the girl asked. Pike didn't answer, repeating the process after she heard no breathing from Scanlan. Twice more she tried this and nothing happened. No breathing. No movement. Not anything. Pike felt tears prick the backs of her eyes and she let out a sob.

"I'm sorry Scanlan," she croaked. She crossed the boy's chest and said a prayer into her crucifix. She hoped that God would let him in without having done Last Rites. Surely a child of all people could be made an exception to the laws of heaven.

She heard the sound of rippling water and thought that the girl must be walking away. Then she heard the sound of splashing water and she opened her eyes. The girl was still beside her, watching Scanlan. Ripples disturbed the water's surface.

Suddenly, Scanlan coughed, water spilling from his mouth and nose. Pike gasped.

"Scanlan!" she cried, taking the boy and grappling him in a hug. "Scanlan, are you alright?"

He was still groggy when she pulled away, a dopey smile on his face.

"Sorry I couldn't get it all out," the girl said, sheepishly. Pike stared at her.

"All of what out?"

"The water," replied the girl. "There was a lot in there and I couldn't move all of it, so he had to cough some up."

Pike frowned at her, then shook her head. She needed to get Scanlan and the girl back to the school. She scooped Scanlan up into her arms and started carrying him out of the swamp, the girl walking at her heels.

"Sister Pike..." Pike looked down at Scanlan. His head was lulled onto her shoulder and he was still had that dumb grin.

"Yes, Scanlan?"

"Did you like the flowers?" he asked.


End file.
